The Scarlets and Dragons both picked up losing bonus points on the road, the Blues made dramatic improvements in the second half against Bristol and the Ospreys earned the praise of Munster A coach Peter Malone after they pushed the reigning champions all the way at St Helen’s.
With 16 members of last season’s Wales Under 20 team in the four matchday squads, as well as five players who were in the Wales Under 18 tour party that went to South Africa in August, plenty of young talent were given the chance to test themselves at a higher level.
“We were very much in control in the first half, but our intensity dropped a bit in the second half and a few errors let them into the game,” admitted Ospreys skipper Will Jones, who captained Wales Under 20 last season.
“It is a step up from the Premiership, the speed is different and Munster were very well drilled and they certainly knew what they were doing. But I thought the younger boys certainly stepped up and matched them in the first-half.
“We’ve got a good development programme going on at the Ospreys and the Academy boys have all trained hard for this tournament and want to make an impact. We know that the English Championship teams will have big, heavy packs and that’s why we are working on our speed to use that against Bedford and Nottingham.
“This is a step up from the Premiership and the Under 20s, but we don’t want to be stuck in a comfortable environment, we want to be given new challenges and new targets. We know at the Ospreys that when the senior players move on we have to be ready to step up.
“Last year my main aim was just to play as many games of senior rugby as I could and I found myself playing every game in the B&I Cup. This season I’m captain, so you never know what is going to happen if you keep on working hard.”
Munster A punished the Ospreys with two tries in a clinical 10 minute spell after the break to turn a 6-3 interval deficit into a 24-6 win in the end. The power of the Munster pack, and the cultured boot of scrum half James Hart, kept the visitors on the front foot throughout the second 40.
Phil Jones kicked two of his three penalty shots in the first half and JJ Hanrahan was on target with one of his two for the visitors. The Munster outside half also pulled down Jones inches short to save what looked like a certain try.
In the second half hooker Kevin O’Bryne and flanker Gavin Coombes smashed their way over from close range to punish two poor defensive line-outs by the home side. Replacement prop John Poland added a third three minutes from time.
Poor goalkicking cost the Scarlets heavily in a tight contest in their Pool 5 opener in Barnbridge, just outside Belfast, as they missed three conversions and two penalties to throw away a chance of victory in a 24-18 defeat to Ulster A.
Those nine points could have made all the difference in a game in which they took the lead against the run of play with a 10th minute try from wing Tom Prydie and then went into a 10 point lead with a try in the right corner from No 8 Jack Condy five minutes later.
Rhys Jones added a penalty at the end of the first quarter to extend the lead to 13-0, yet by the break the home side had not only forced their way back into the game, but moved into a 17-13 lead. Scrum half Aaron Cairns rounded off a great move that started with a break by No 8 Joe Dunleavy and skipper and tight head prop Ross Kane.
Johnny McPhillips added the extras and then converted a try four minutes later from Dunleavy to take the lead. The home outside half then kicked a 40 metre penalty to complete the first half turn-around.
It took 17 minutes of the second half before either side got another scoring chance, but Jack Maynard pushed his penalty wide and then went on to miss another. Ulster, meanwhile, picked up a third try from full back Jack Owens, which McPhillips once again improved, before Scarlets lock Josh Helps ensured a losing bonus point with a corner try four minutes from time.
Dale Stuckey’s late interception try at least gave the Blues Premiership Select XV something to build-on at the end of their 31-7 home defeat to Bristol in the first round of the British & Irish Cup.
Things won’t get any easier for the Blues’ side this weekend with a trip to Dublin to meet Leinster A, but Wales Under 20 centre Harri Millard believes his side can only get better after playing together and getting the chance to learn from their mistakes against the English Championship leaders.
Bristol ran in four first-half tries at Sardis Road, but could only muster one more after the break as Justin Burnell’s side tightened up their defence, got to grips with the pace and intensity of the game and became more competitive.
“It’s a tough loss to take, although I thought we played well at times. Small errors opened up the game for them and allowed them to score on the break a couple of times,” said Millard.
“Bristol are a quality outfit and now we’ve got another opportunity in Leinster to show what we can do. We know that we can go out there and play good rugby, and that’s what we’ll look to do.
“We spent a lot of the first half putting in a defensive shift, and you can’t expect to be able to do that throughout the full 80. We wanted to keep the ball during the second half and use our attacking threat.
“Dale Stuckey’s try at the end can give us a bit of momentum. It’s going to make us hungry to look to play and look for more tries in Dublin.”
Former Wales Under 21 hooker Dan George finally killed off any lingering hopes the Dragons had to winning at London Scottish as he converted a driving line-out maul into the home side’s fourth try to clinch a 27-20 victory.
The visitors picked up two yellow cards at the end of the first half when teenage wing Rio Dyer went to the sin-bin for an aerial challenge and then prop Phil Price followed him for pulling down a maul. Up until that point the Dragons had led 13-0 thanks to a Scott Matthews try and eight points from the boot of Dorian Jones.
But the Exiles went in for the kill at the start of the second half and grabbed two tries in four minutes. Even so, the Dragons battled back to lead 20-19 before a Basil Strang penalty hoisted the home side into a two point lead ahead of George’s bonus point score at the death.
